Review: Echo Theatre and Soul Rep Theatre Co.'s CADILLAC CREW enlightens crowds at the Bath House!

Cadillac Crew

By Tori Sampson

Directed by Anyika McMillan-Herod

Produced by Echo Theatre and Soul Rep Theatre Company 

Tori Sampson’s Cadillac Crew is a four-hander, a play written for only four speaking parts,
which allows her to delve deeply into each character, showing us their fronts, flaws, fights, and
true faces. I’ve written that exact description for other four-handers, and I’ll do it again,
because it is just sooooooo gloriously true and tantalizing to me. A play with just four
characters, each fully developed, and entrusted to four amazing actors, significantly raises the
odds that I’ll soon be journeying to my own private theatrical Valhalla, a place where actors,
fully spent on the stage, reside forever more within my memory as heroes.

Skol, my theatrical Valhalla has four new heroes today! The acting talents on display in the
regional premiere of the play, presented by Echo Theatre and Soul Rep Theatre Company on
stage at the Bath House Cultural Center, are amazing! And the story Sampson’s play tells, as
directed by the steady hand of Anyika McMillan-Herod, Director, is compelling and needs
telling. For this story is not just about the frontlines of the 1960’s fight for Civil Rights, it’s also
about the dreams and aspirations of these women as they struggled for women’s rights as well,
even within their own movement, as gender equality was not the norm within a Civil Rights
movement domineered by men.

First up is the commanding presence of Mikaela Baker’s Rachel, who enters as the lights come
up on the set and a recording of Nina Simone’s version of “You Know How I Feel” continues to
play and we hear:

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me, ooh
And I'm feeling good

True to Simone’s song, Baker makes it clear that she is feeling good as she enters the office and
starts her day. And where exactly are we? We’re in the Virginia Office of Civil Rights. Cleverly
designed by M. Scott Tatum, Set Designer, the space is decked with a myriad of intimate
touches that make us believe the truth of the office space, a hot and noisy bullpen of an office
right next to a seemingly never-ending protest just a gritty city block away. Director McMillan-
Herod affords Baker’s Rachel a lot of alone time at the top of the show, as she swiftly and
efficiently whips through an acre of activities before her erstwhile colleagues begin to arrive.
Baker’s offline work as Rachel is captivating, as she bustles about in “private”. This intimacy,
another feature common in a four-hander, is maintained by McMillan-Herod and her actors
throughout the play while we, the audience, are indeed metaphorical flies upon the wall, seeing
and hearing things that no one outside of these offices might ever know.

Next up is the duality that is Autumn Robinson’s Abby, who makes us believe both her brash
confidence when she says, “I belong wherever I walk”, and her well-earned wariness when she
reveals she carries a pocketknife in her bra. Baker’s Rachel is clearly the leader, but Robinson’s
definitely Diana Ross-esque Abby is a diva in no need of backup, although she makes it clear she
would have liked her entrance and outfit acknowledged when she arrived at the office. Which
mention makes it the right time to commend Jasmine Woods, Costume Designer, for staying
true to the fashions and color palette of the times, with costumes so well-suited to each
character’s personality that they seem like merely each character’s choice for the day rather
than the calculated decision of a costumer, despite most perfectly evoking the era. CD
Lovehall’s Dee saunters in and settles right down to business, calling things as she sees them.
Lovehall’s Dee doesn’t aspire to be the leader, like Baker’s Rachel, and she’s not interested in
the spotlight like Robinson’s Abby, but you can see her friendship and love for each of these
women as she pushes for progress, even when arguing that the Baker’s Rachel might do better
furthering the fight for women’s rights if she’d only use her feminine wiles within the seeming
men’s club that runs the Civil Rights Movement. Completing the cast is Stephanie Oustalet
whose earnest and eager Sarah, the lone white woman among the three African American
ladies, who is just slightly on the outside looking in, as you might expect from a white woman
fighting the good fight for racial equality while herself firmly ensconced in privilege.
All four actors are among the best you could see anywhere. You believe the barely contained
joy and anxiety of Baker’s Rachel as she counts down the hours before Rosa Parks will be the
key-note speaker at a Civil Rights rally, an appearance arranged for by Rachel, but on a topic
other than Parks’ famous bus ride. For more than a decade before Parks took a stand for
African Americans by refusing to give up her seat on that bus, she provided legal aid to Recy
Taylor, who was raped by white men in Abbeville, Alabama, championing women’s rights.
You’ll also believe the profound disappointment and anger from Baker’s Rachel when plans are
changed behind her back by the men who think they know better, but of course don’t, leading
to a Category 4 storm of an exit by Baker’s Rachel.

Robinson is gifted with Abby’s monologue of remembrance about two now dead friends, and
her simple heartfelt recounting brought me to tears. And you believe other secrets Robinson’s
Abby shares privately with the others. Lovehall’s quiet authority as Dee, and the spin she puts
on the verbal love taps she gives her friends and colleagues, are both delicious. At one point,
Lovehall’s Dee protects the others with a handgun, and you know, you just know in your bones,
from her body language, that what Dee fears might be out there in the dark might indeed truly
be out there. Stephanie Oustalet’s Sarah is no dilettante, and we can see that there’s some
sort of special bond between her and Baker’s Rachel that goes beyond the friendship and
camaraderie she shares with the other two women. You’ll be surprised when the truth is
revealed, so no spoilers here. However, I should explain that the play’s title, Cadillac Crew,
refers to a largely forgotten part of Civil Rights history. Pairs of Black women and White women
would travel throughout the South by car, stopping in towns and meeting with the locals,
having intimate fireside conversations to try to move the social agenda. These were dangerous
trips and death was a very possibly result for the ladies in the Cadillac. In Act 2 of Cadillac Crew
the action shifts from the office to the road.

And that’s where the wheels fell off for me. This production, this director’s storytelling, these
fine actors, and this fine play by Tori Sampson owned me after Act 1. I was fully invested in the
story of these four women. However, Sampson’s story disappoints in Act 2. It starts well with
each character privately reading their journals about the trip, allowing us to hear their
thoughts. Then, it really shifts into gear as the women break down on the road. And then, and
this is where the wheels just fell off for me, the action shifts to an NPR podcast with the three
founders of Black Lives Matter (BLM), or at least their disembodied voices. There’s
acknowledgement that the work done by women like the four women in the play is the bedrock
upon which the BLM movement was built. But that’s pretty much it for the story of the four
women.

Now, I despise reviewers who complain about a good play because while they liked the play,
they would have liked it better if it only told a slightly different story. Well, that’d be a different
play, so stop complaining and go see a play that tells that story. And I want to make it clear
that I don’t think I am doing that here. I’m saying it was disappointing and jarring to have the
telling of this beautiful story about four heroes just abruptly stopped rather than properly
ended, as the BLM story took over approximately the last 15 minutes of the play.
Go see this play! It is an amazing production that rightfully sings the praises of some of the
unsung heroes of the Civil Rights movement.

Audience Rating: PG-13 due to sexual references and references to violence.

Running Time: Two hours including intermission
Accessible seating: Yes
Hearing Devices Available: No
Sensory Friendly Showing: No
Production Sound Level: Comfortable
Noises and Visuals to Know About: Handgun waved about.

See you at the theater!

David

Editors Note: 

After reading this review, I was inclined to do some further investigation on this matter. We really wanted to know why the story of the four women was so abruptly ended. Below is a statement form Director, Anyika McMillian-Herod. 

"Playwright Tori Sampson's intentional and abrupt flash forward to present day from 1963 is a jarring choice and device. It was a big subject with the actors during the table read and work for our production. Why spend so much time introducing the audience to 4 such vibrant and engaging characters that we come to love, only to abandon them in the second half of the play? I firmly believe it is to make the point of there being so many forgotten and or nameless sheroes of the movement of that time; all of whom laid the foundation for today's social justice and women's rights leaders. They stand on their shoulders and are emboldened by their early efforts, with a freedom many of the unsung foremothers lacked."

Thank you for reading! 

Natalie Shaw